


Cycle

by blackstar



Series: 30 day writing challenge [10]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kinda, M/M, Pack Bonding, Wooing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 09:20:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2062644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackstar/pseuds/blackstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles has a plan on how to win a certain werewolf's heart.<br/>As life works, it's not always exactly as he imagines it going.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cycle

**Author's Note:**

> Day 11 --- after a bit of a break. Had some family issues and I needed a break from the writing. Now I'm back! 
> 
> I'm dead sleepy so I didn't even read it again after writing; sorry. I'll look over it tomorrow and fix any blatant mistakes :D

Stiles had a plan.

He always took pride in his elaborate plans, whether they were for winning a school competition, cleaning his house or winning someone’s heart. This was no exception, and was of the last variety.

Stiles was going to win Derek’s heart in 4 simple steps, repeated in a cyclical way until it finally worked. And it would work, Stiles was confident in his plan.

 

The steps were as follows:

                Step 1: Be nice to the Sourwolf, talk to the Sourwolf and bring the Sourwolf food.

                Step 2: In some way, make Stiles and the Sourwolf sleep in the same house for a night – not in the same bed necessarily, even though that is part of the plan in further cycles, but maybe the same room is preferable.

                Step 3: Share something personal with the Sourwolf and/or help the Sourwolf with something important.

                Step 4: Give some space to the Sourwolf – a couple of days to a week of minimal communication, of course except for life-threatening situations.

\---

He had written that down a couple of nights ago, scratching out and rearranging steps until he was satisfied with the result and now the piece of paper was safely tucked in his economics textbook in the bottom of his drawer. He didn’t want it to end up in Derek’s hands and cause unnecessary misunderstandings – he’d read enough stories to know that was bad. He decided he needed at least four cycles before he’d make any steps to actually asking Derek out on a date or confessing or anything like that, to be sure Derek didn’t mind, and in fact wanted, his persona around, to bug and help him. Stiles wanted to prove to himself that Derek was actually attracted to him in a more long-term manner because the sexual tension between them had been palpable for the last couple of months and he had just as many before graduation. After graduation, it was only a blink of an eye before he left for college and even though he was studying in the closest possible school, he knew things would change. If he was going to act on his crush, he needed to do it now.

Cycle number one started with Stiles huffing on the step of his own door, trying to pump himself up, as he locked up. He got into his jeep and drove to the loft, all the way singing “Walking on sunshine” in the hopes of bringing his mood to an appropriately high level. It was a Saturday in the beginning of spring and it didn’t take much for Stiles to start bobbing his head up and down with the rhythm and smiling in earnest. He knocked on the metal door, still humming under his breath, wondering why Derek hadn’t answered like he usually did – before Stiles had gotten the chance to knock.

He heard slow, drawn-out steps from the other side of the door and immediately got worried – was Derek hurt? Had something happened without him getting the memo again? For the time it took Derek to open the loft door, Stiles had already forgotten his song-and-sun induced glee for anxiety and worry.

As Stiles’ questions were almost bubbling out of his mouth, he stopped to take Derek in. His hair was unruly and stuck out in all directions, his face seemed slack and he was wearing well-worn and obviously sleep clothes. Stiles hastily took out his phone to look at the time and --- yes, it was a Saturday in the beginning of spring, and it was 6:24 in the morning.

“Oh—God.” Stiles said, feeling horrified. The plan was failing in the earliest of stages – he would hate anyone, who woke him up on a weekend morning without previous plans. “I’m so sorry, Derek.” He blurted quickly and looked back to the phone in his hand and up at Derek, who had one eyebrow lifted in a silent question. “I—I thought it was later. I didn’t mean to wake you, I’m just gonna go and--”

Stiles didn’t get the chance to finish as he was hauled inside and the door was closed behind him. Derek, still looking mostly asleep, grunted a “’t’s fine.” before going to the kitchen area. “Coffee?” he asked as he was opening his fridge and getting milk. Stiles nodded, pulling his hoodie off.

“Want help? And are you sure you don’t want me to leave? I can totally leave and you can go back to bed.”

“Nah.” Derek said, low, his voice still rough with sleep. “Can’t fall asleep again, after waking up.” He added as an explanation. That only made Stiles feel worse. He went to get two cups and start the coffee machine while Derek was slowly walking around the kitchen, retrieving spoons and the carton of milk. He seemed completely out of it and Stiles didn’t remember ever seeing him this adorably fluffy from sleep. He wanted to ruffle his hair and make him watch the morning cartoons. The later one, he could do, he reasoned.

They made the coffee in silence and then sat on the couch, still not speaking. Stiles found the remote after a minute of nervous twitching on his end, and got the morning cartoons on. As he looked at Derek to see his reaction and most probably explain himself, he found himself stunned into silence. Derek, the once scary alpha werewolf, was lying back in the couch, watching the cartoons, a lazy and wide smile stretching his lips; his hands were curled around the steaming cup of coffee, resting on his right leg, and he looked utterly peaceful. Stiles found himself smiling back and leaning back himself, and they watched the morning TV in silence in the beginning, Stiles stealing peeks from time to time, and later started commenting on the funny parts or the parts they hadn’t quite gotten when they were younger.

“I used to watch these with my sisters and brother every weekend. We’d get up early for them and curl up in our parent’s huge bed with cereal and laugh together. It was wonderful.”

Stiles was afraid of asking about anything in that picture, lest he broke the spell, so he answered with a fond memory of his own.

“I watched them with mom and dad. Mom didn’t work weekends and dad was still a deputy and his shifts weren’t this long, so almost every weekend we’d sit on the couch in the living room and drink something and watch the cartoons. They had as much fun as I did, I think.”

Derek was looking at him when Stiles stopped and dropped his gaze from the ceiling to the werewolf again. They both smiled and looked back at the TV.

When Stiles was leaving that afternoon, after cooking, and talking, and playing Halo in the living room, Derek walked him to the door and smiled at Stiles as he was making way for him to pass.

“Thanks for today.” He said and Stiles only nodded, returning his smile.

That night, in his bed, Stiles looked at his plan and found a couple of flows in it. First of all, they did the personal sharing (from step 3) in between the parts of step 1. Also, he didn’t know if he wanted to actually really go through step 4 after today.

He fell asleep, clutching the piece of paper and trying to figure out what the appropriate changes should be.

\---

Sunday started in a similar manner, except for the later hour in the morning. Stiles went to Derek’s loft at around 8:30 and they had coffee and watched the morning cartoons together, sharing bits of themselves. It was so oddly calming, Stiles found himself almost forgetting that this was a part of a plan and there were steps to be taken in order for the cycle to progress.

When they were having lunch, Stiles looked up from his plate and proposed quietly:

“Do you think it’s a good idea to gather up the pack next weekend? Watch the morning cartoons and have a day together, you know, a bonding situation without the imminent threat to our lives being present. I think that’s a thing we should do but… I wanted to ask you, before I propose it to Scott.”

Derek looked confused. “Why me?”

“Well, you know, you have the most… experience. With how this is supposed to work, having a pack and all.” Stiles lowered his gaze again, hoping he hadn’t brought any hurtful memories to Derek’s mind.

“it’s…” Derek kept quiet for a couple of seconds and then nodded fiercely. “That’s a great idea.”

Stiles beamed and so they decided they can have the pack bonding time at the loft, from Saturday morning until Sunday afternoon. Stiles almost felt too guilty that Derek was so happy to be a part of this pack bonding exercise and praised Stiles for thinking about it; after all, that was part of the plan to get into Derek’s pants, to put it bluntly. Stiles felt as if he was playing with Derek’s trust. If he knew now why Stiles was so concerned with the pack’s relations (which he was even without the plan, but still), everything would be over.

Sunday night, in bed, Stiles pondered over the still intact plan again. He didn’t know how to change it and he didn’t want to quit it. He was in too deep, and only after two days of conscious effort.

\---

The week was a blur for Stiles – a test in biology, a quiz in math and a whole lot of going to Derek’s after school. They didn’t plan ahead but after the weekend, it was easier for Stiles just to pop in and make Derek play video games with him or just stay in the same room while Stiles studied. Derek was reading an old hardcover book but Stiles couldn’t read the title and didn’t ask.

His nights Stiles mostly spent planning, redrafting his cyclical plan. He loved losing himself in fantasies of what it would be like when his plan worked, what the two of them would do together, how Derek would feel under him or over him, what Stiles would do to make him moan. To put it shortly, most of Stiles’ evenings ended with him jerking off with the image of Derek and himself together in a bed. Or against a wall, or in a shower, or in a sleek black car or a noisy jeep, but you get the idea.

He could honestly say that with the revised version (where step 2 and 3 had switched positions), steps one and two of the first cycle were complete.

\---

It felt like a victory when everyone showed up to the pack thing Saturday morning. Scott, Lydia and Jackson, Kira, Isaac, Liam and even the parents were all there at 7 sharp, around Derek’s TV, coffees or teas in hands, watching the morning cartoons. Even Peter showed up (even though he was late) and watched from afar, a small smile, similar to the one Derek had a week ago, plastered on his face. Stiles noted that he was seated pretty far from Derek but the little smiles they exchanged throughout the show, as they were kind of used to by now, calmed him again.

It was a marvelous day overall, with a lot of laughter and buzzing and talking, everyone together, fighting over the stupidest things in the most obnoxious way. They made lunch together and went to the preserve to work out some of the energy they’d gathered. Pushing and shoving at each other, running and leaping, and again, laughing loudly – Stiles couldn’t remember such a cheerful time in the woods.

“This was a great idea.” Derek whispered in his ear, while he was watching how Scott and Kira were jumping from tree to tree, trying to catch each other. Stiles jumped a little and then exploded into laughter.

“Don’t do that, man, you’re gonna kill me via a heart attack.” But he smiled back, as wide as his face could pull, and he felt like his whole being was brimming with happiness and satisfaction. Derek grinned in return and went to push at Isaac, who was attempting to climb a tree with only one hand.

As the sun went down and the chill reminded them that it was not yet summer, the parents decided to head home, while the others went back to the loft. They watched an action movie and criticized it through its entire length, while eating popcorn and talking nonsense. The chatter of them speaking in hushed voices started dying down well after 2 o’clock and even though Derek had coordinated with Stiles and Lydia so that there would be enough space and beds for everyone to sleep, a couple of spaces were left unused. Scott and Kira, as well as Jackson and Lydia, snuggled with each other; Isaac and Liam, with their newfound friendship, were taking of so little space, as if they were only sleeping on one bed. Stiles was too scared to try and get closer to Derek, even though their sleep-spaces were right next to each other and they didn’t stop talking until everyone else was asleep.

“Thanks, Stiles.” Derek said, a little before they too fell asleep.

“What for?”

“Thinking of the pack.”

Stiles felt unable to respond and so he didn’t. He curled up in his blanket more tightly and pushed the feeling of being a manipulative prick away. As sleep overtook him, he couldn’t help but think:

‘Step three done. I guess now it’s time for the hard part.’

\---

He knew it was just for a couple of days and he knew he’d become too much of a nuisance to Derek if he didn’t give him any space. He knew this was the most thoughtful part of his plan. He knew and it was still awful to be spending the second day away from Derek. After seeing him every day for an entire week, his afternoons now seemed empty and hollow, the studying was harder and the video games weren’t as much fun, even with Scott. Scott, who didn’t know about Stiles’ plan (miraculously; yet) and was very much worried about Stiles’ constant moping.

“It’s nothing, let’s just play.”

“Hey, did you know that Kira and Lydia went to Derek’s yesterday?”

Stiles froze.

“What for?”

“Eh, after the bonding weekend they went to see what he was doing; they said it must be lonely, going from the whole pack together, to alone the next day so they went to keep him company after school.”

“Oh.” Stiles nodded stiffly. “And how was it?”

“Kira said it was pretty cool. They had waffles. OhmygodStiles, look out!” he yelled as they got attacked on screen again. Stiles felt deflated. He knew he shouldn’t feel jealous and was actually glad that Lydia and Kira were thoughtful enough to think of Derek that way. It was mostly that he was angry at himself for not thinking the same – this was supposed to be about being close to Derek. And he couldn’t help but feel replaced. Mercilessly, quickly, in a day, Derek’s afternoons with Stiles had turned to Derek’s afternoon with someone else. He focused on the game so he wouldn’t feel the lump in his throat quite so acutely.

\---

                Everything okay?

The message popped up on his phone in the last period before classes ended for the day and week. It was from Derek and his heart started beating faster. He fumbled for a bit, perplexed, wondering how to answer.

                Yeah, dude, u?

Waiting, tapping at his desk, he wondered if something had happened, if Derek needed Stiles’ help. His foot started jiggling rhythmically as he was going through grim possibilities.

                Fine. Are you coming this afternoon?

Stiles’ breath hitched and he almost ran out of the classroom the instant. He licked at his lips and tried not to smile too widely so that Coach wouldn’t notice him, but it was admittedly pretty hard with the knowledge that his plan wasn’t that stupid after all. Derek noticed he wasn’t there. That was such a huge relief.

To Stiles’ knowledge, every day since the beginning of the week someone had went to see Derek in the loft. Isaac had even spent the night at Wednesday. Scott had asked him if he wanted to come along yesterday and when Stiles said no, Scott told him he was acting weird.

“Weren’t you crushing on Derek? Why are you avoiding him?”

“I’m not avoiding him.” Stiles had answered, knowing full well he was lying. “I just… I’ll go tomorrow.”

 

                Yeah, I am. The pack was loving on you the whole week, didn’t want to intrude.

He writes and deletes the second sentence at least 7 times before sending it.

                You’re pack too.

Came the answer, within seconds. Stiles felt a bit sick, along with the newfound happiness. Yes, he was pack. The whole point was to get him to being more than pack. Feeling bold, he quickly replied.

                Maybe I’m jealous.

He hit send before he has the time to rethink and send something more normal. When the bell rang and he still didn’t have a reply, he felt a dread in his stomach, which makes him start to reconsider the whole going-to-see-Derek deal. As he was blindly heading to the jeep, Scott caught up and said, cheery:

“You’re going to Derek’s today.” He beamed at Stiles.

“Uh, yeah, about that.” Stiles scratched at his neck, while he looked down. “Maybe I’m gonna skip today, see him tomorrow or next week or something.” He mumbled the last part as he was opening the driver-side door.

“No, you’re seeing Derek today.” Scott insisted, the same wide smile plastered on his face. Just as Stiles opened his mouth to protest and convince Scott he didn’t want to right now, Scott pulled out his phone, clicked a couple of times and showed it to Stiles proudly. “Derek sent me this ten minutes ago.”

                Can you make sure Stiles doesn’t back out of coming to my place? He’s going to try. Please.

 

\---

 

Stiles had a plan.

But now, as he’s standing in front of the loft door, where Derek is holding him in a tight embrace, he can’t exactly remember how he came up with it or what the next step should be. He feels Derek’s power in the way his arms cling to Stiles’ sides and he feels Derek’s gentleness in the brush of air from his mouth. He feels his love being returned by Derek when they lips touch and when he melts into the kiss, the world feels dipped on its axis, and more right than ever.

“You complete idiot.” Derek growls and pulls them inside, taking off clothes and murmuring quiet little “idiot”s and “asshole”s as well as sweet, comforting words of affection, as they fall onto the bed. Stiles, completely lost but all too happy to oblige, participates enthusiastically in the ordeal, battling Derek’s hands away so he can get his jeans off faster or pulling the man closer so he can get another kiss or bite in the mix.

\---

“I found your plan.” Derek explains afterwards, while they’re still in bed, tangled in each other, sweaty and dirty.

Stiles freezes and starts to wonder how that possible disaster turned into the best thing ever.

“Don’t repeat the cycle anymore.” Derek adds instead and nuzzles even closer to Stiles. “Or at least skip the last step, it sucks.” Stiles opens his mouth to explain but Derek barrels through. “I get it. And I get why you did it. And I actually appreciate the thought. But it sucks.”

“You can rip that into shreds. It’s complete, see?” and he pokes Derek’s naked abdomen.

“I think I’m going to keep it. Show it to the grandkids so I can embarrass you when we’re old and gray.”

Stiles takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He reaches up and touches Derek’s chin, his lips, his cheek.

“Okay.” He agrees and smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> I think I'm going to make it 10 days of writing - 10 days break for the whole thing, but I'm not sure yet. I'm so sleepy I don't know what to even say here - talk to you in the comments? 
> 
> Oh, also, sorry for the fact that Derek basically doesn't leave the loft for the entirety of the fic (except for the preserve scene), maybe that's boring but it feels more... homey? I dunno, it came out that way.


End file.
